Musicians release silent album to protest UK’s AI copyright changes

LONDON — More than 1,000 musicians including Kate Bush and Cat Stevens on Tuesday released a silent album to protest proposed changes to Britain’s copyright laws which could allow tech firms to train artificial intelligence (AI) models using their work.

Creative industries globally are grappling with the legal and ethical implications of AI models that can produce after being trained on popular works without necessarily paying the creators of the original content.

Britain, which Prime Minister Keir Starmer wants to become , has proposed relaxing laws that currently give creators of literary, dramatic, musical, and artistic works the right to control the ways their material may be used.

The proposed changes would allow AI developers to train their models on any material to which they have lawful access, and would require creators to proactively opt out to stop their work from being used.

The changes have been heavily criticized by many artists, who say it would reverse the principle of copyright law, which grants exclusive control to creators for their work.

“In the music of the future, will our voices go unheard?” said Ms. Bush, whose 1985 hit “Running Up That Hill” enjoyed a resurgence in 2022 thanks to Netflix show Stranger Things.

The co-written album titled Is This What We Want? features recordings of empty studios and performance spaces to represent what organizers say is the potential impact on artists’ livelihoods should the changes go ahead.

A public consultation on the legal changes closes later on Tuesday.

Responding to the album, a government spokesperson said the current copyright and AI regime was holding back the creative industries, media, and AI sector from “realizing their full potential.”

“We have engaged extensively with these sectors throughout and will continue to do so. No decisions have been taken,” the spokesperson said, adding that the government’s proposals will be set out in due course.

Annie Lennox, Billy Ocean, Hans Zimmer, Tori Amos, and The Clash are among the musicians urging the government to review its plans.

“The government’s proposal would hand the life’s work of the country’s musicians to AI companies, for free, letting those companies exploit musicians’ work to outcompete them,” said organizer Ed Newton-Rex, the founder of Fairly Trained, a non-profit that certifies generative AI companies for fairer training data practices.

“The UK can be leaders in AI without throwing our world-leading creative industries under the bus.” — Reuters